Bank as Sancturary

I always describe Faith Action Climate Team (FACT) as the only organization I founded by accident.   (I have founded 4 organizations in my life).  How do you do that by accident?  Originally Abby Brockway and I just wanted to get together all the activists we knew who were people of faith to simply have a conversation about: “What would it look like for the Faith Community to have a powerful moral voice about climate change?”  We went around the room with each person telling what their Congregation was doing and then we went around again on that query.  There was a lot of passion and excitement in the room.  It was the only time I organized an event where people called me up and said: “I heard you are doing this, can I come?”   Also another woman we did not know was simultaneously starting to try to get together people for the same reason….always a sign in my mind of the working of God – and a sign to be definitely listened to.  By the time the meeting had ended a large number of people wanted to organize a faith-based climate conference.  We kept meeting and 9 months had the first one.  It was electric.  People could feel spirit in the hallways and our common rooms.  They could feel that this was different.  A year later we held the second conference.

This group always was asking the question: "how can faith communities make a powerful moral difference?"   Eventually we decided to do the experiment of bringing prayer to change our opposition.   We held a prayer service at PSE (the local utility) and a couple of times experimented with holding prayer in a bank that was funding pipelines.  The first time we went into a Wells Fargo, the bank manager became almost hysterical and was yelling and screaming the whole time which certainly made prayer difficult and since she quickly called the police we had to leave after a short stay.  But the second time myself and 4 others had decided we were willing to be arrested if necessary.  We had chosen a Chase Bank on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

I had agreed to go speak to the bank manager and explain what we were doing.  Due to the experience of the previous time, I did not expect to have long to speak and was surprised when he seemed quite willing to hear me out and engage.  He also seemed to hope he would not have to get us arrested.  He asked me how long we intended to pray in the bank and indicated that if we could just keep it short that he would not have to call the police.  I indicated to him that was not our concern.  I eventually left him to rejoin the circle in prayer.  It was a meaningful time of prayer and the bank manager did wait about half an hour before calling the police.  It transformed the bank as did our supporters singing loving songs outside.  A bank customer was overheard to say upon walking in:  “I thought I was coming to a bank, not a church.”

The police, when they arrived, were even less wanting to arrest us.  They repeatedly tried to warn us and tell us if we go now that they would not arrest us.  Eventually, I had to tell them that while I understood they did not want to arrest us that was theirs to wrestle with – that we were doing what we were called to which was stay there.  After probably another half an hour they took us out, being careful of our more frail and elderly members.   One member Emogene was in her 80’s and this was a bridge to far for the police captain.   He walked her out with her walker and then told her he was not arresting her.  She was outraged.  She yelled at him:  “You lied to me. You told me you were taking me out of the bank to arrest me.”   He said to her:  “Mame, I have a conscience and I am not going to do that.”   She replied without batting an eyelash:  “I have a conscience too, and I also have grandchildren and that is why I am here doing this.” 

But realizing he was not going to arrest her, she played possum and appeared to be walking away head down defeated.  But as soon as he believed this and turned away from her, she went over to the nearby squad car and climbed in the back seat!  The officer in the driver’s seat could be heard saying:  “Mame what are you doing?  You are not supposed to be in here!  Get out Mame, get out!”   But she was not to be deterred by him and eventually had to be coaxed out by one of our support team.  And when I was released from jail a few hours later she was the first to greet me at the door quickly proclaiming that she had tried to go with me.   I assured her I knew, and I appreciated it.

I want to acknowledge the white privilege here.  People of color have to work hard not to get arrested in a system that is created for their destruction, and when they or LBGQT folks are, it is not safe for them.  Our goal should not be to get arrested but to take actions that make change.  In this case, I don’t think Emogene was driven by an ego based need to get arrested, I think she was reacting to the agism of her being treated differently than the rest of us and was still trying to be faithful to her conscience.  And in our refusal of both the bank manager and the police to do something short and go away, I also do not believe we were driven by a goal of being arrested as by the goal of being faithful to what we were led to. 

Because we were all white and also all with grey hair and praying – we did not fit their image of “other”. The bank manager and the police both play roles in upholding our system and they were made uncomfortable that day…uncomfortable in a good way.  I hope this is a way of using white privilege to push change.  The bank manager actually promised to take our list of demands back to the monthly meeting of bank managers, and they were already he said discussing the number of people cancelling accounts due to their role in pipeline funding.  What is the power of prayer for conversion and transformation?